Controlling Desktop Remotely on Startup

[Bachmanity]

I am trying to control my PC remotely on startup without using software that requires you to sign in every time you power it on. I will want to access my work computer from home whenever. Is that possible? Sometimes it's late and no one is in the office. Any good Chrome extensions or possibly team viewer?

 

[Ketchup]

The first thing I might suggest is checking with your company's IT department and make sure they allow such access.

 

[vailr]

There's "start up" and then there's "wake up". If the work PC has the "wake on LAN" bios option, then it's probably doable: to send a "wake up" signal from a remote machine. A cold start up would likely need physical access. Maybe: call the late night cleaning person to press the power button for you?

 

[Red Squirrel]

This may be tricky. You could use something that relies on a 3rd party service like log me in, but there are some security repercussions with something like that. (Ex: their servers get hacked - I think this recently happened with team viewer actually). Whether or not you get IT's permission you still want to have security in mind when doing something like this.

If this is something you believe your IT would be willing to help you with, you could look to see if any ports can be forwarded for you, or if the company has a VPN you could get VPN access to the network, then just use something like VNC or RDP. Idealy I'd try to go the VPN route and not forward any ports.

Another option is a reverse SSH tunnel. Basically you SSH into a home server from work with putty or similar client, and leave the connection open. You should then be able to access the PC's ports from the SSH server at home. I remember doing it before mostly out of curiosity. I can't recall what I did exactly or if it even required to do anything different. Finding stuff on google searching for "reverse SSH tunnel" so you might be able to find more info that way.

 

[alexvince]

I do not know about Chrome extensions that can do the job for you, but there are various RMM - remote monitoring and management tools in the market, that can do perfectly what you need.

You can either Google it or try Kaseya RMM Software

 

[Mike64]

A cold start up would likely need physical access.

Indeed, and not merely "likely need." I can't imagine any scenario in which "powering on" an ordinary PC could be accomplished without physical access (or some sort of additional, network-enabled relay between the PC's plug and the wall outlet which presumably is well beyond the scope of the OP's situation.) If it's literally "powered down", there'd simply be no way it could respond to any sort of input at all.

 

[vexingv]

if you have access to computer's BIOS settings and if it is supported/available in the bios, you can probably have the computer wake on via timer/alarm if you're unable to do so using Wake-on-lan.

then of course, once you have the machine turned , you have the plethora of remote access options like RDP, VNC, Chrome Remote Desktop, et al. the other issue may be having those ports open and remotely accessible in your office's network firewall.

 

[suklee]

Indeed, and not merely "likely need." I can't imagine any scenario in which "powering on" an ordinary PC could be accomplished without physical access (or some sort of additional, network-enabled relay between the PC's plug and the wall outlet which presumably is well beyond the scope of the OP's situation.) If it's literally "powered down", there'd simply be no way it could respond to any sort of input at all.

Something like the Belkin Wemo internet-accessible power plug would work and is relatively simple to set up. With a BIOS setting change OP would be able to remotely power on the plug, and thus machine, using an iOS/Android app.

Edit: can confirm this works, just tested.

 

[debian0001]

Just leave the PC on? I use RDP with some extra security listening not on 3389. Works so far and I haven't been hacked.

 

[Fardringle]

The first thing I might suggest is checking with your company's IT department and make sure they allow such access.

Yep. And if it is allowed, they will also tell you how to do it properly on their network.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

The first thing I might suggest is checking with your company's IT department and make sure they allow such access.

Yep. And if it is allowed, they will also tell you how to do it properly on their network.

Definitely this first, and if it's allowed, NoMachine may be what you are looking for. It's similar to TeamViewer/LogMeIn, but without the middle-man.